With Toni heading to Australia to visit family, the chance of joining her for a weeks birding in Thailand on her way was too tempting to resist...
January 31
After a flight via Dubai that felt like it went on forever,
we arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport, picked up the hire car and set off into the
chaotic Bangkok traffic. Our drive to our accommodation in Don Noi Lot slowed
by a local clipping the back corner of the car as he tried to cut in across me,
but thankfully, no major damage was done to the car other than the plastic
wheel arch that got caught in his bumper and got pulled off, so glad we opted
for the full insurance package - not a great start!
The accommodation at the Baan Talay
See Cream Resort overlooked a large lake which had a few Indian Cormorants,
Painted Stork, many egrets and Chinese/Javan Pond Herons, a couple of Night Herons
and my first lifer of the trip, Brown-headed Gull.
February 1
Woken by the incessant call of Asian
Koels, I was out early for a walk around the immediate area before breakfast.
Looking across the lake, a flock of about 200 Whiskered Terns were busy
feeding, very close to the shore and the usual herons, storks and egrets
littered the fringes of the lake, along with single Black-capped and Collared
Kingfishers. The surrounding scrub held Common Iora, Common Tailorbird, Ornate
Sunbird and Coppersmith Barbet.
One of the main reasons for many birders to visit Thailand is to see Spoon-billed Sandpipers, one of the rarest and most endangered birds in the world, with the salt pans at Pak Thale being one of the best known and reliable spots for them. Arriving at 11am, it was already baking hot and other than the main shelter, there is no shade and with no other birders looking, I was going to have to find them on my own. A few of the pits were teeming with waders, with many familiar British species such as Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpipers, Spotted Redshank, Knot, Whimbrel, Curlew, Greenshank, Common Sandpipers and Redshank being most numerous along with many Black-winged Stilts, both Greater and Lesser (sorry, Tibetan) Sand Plovers, Kentish Plovers, Marsh Sandpipers, Broad-billed Sandpipers, Terek Sandpipers, Great Knot and Red-necked Stints, but no Spoon-billed Sandpiper!
I walked a circuit of the pits along the raised
bunds, which does cause a certain amount of disturbance and came across one pit
which held a couple of the site’s other speciality species - a group of 22
Asian Dowitcher and 9 Nordmann’s Greenshank, including one of the latter with a
red leg flag. However, despite logging 24 wader species, and thoroughly
grilling all the flocks I came across, the Spoon-billed Sand eluded me!
February 2
Getting moving earlier meant we got to Pak Thale for another go at the Spoon-billed Sandpiper before carrying on the Kaeng Krachan. Just before the turning to the main wader site, a large mixed wader flock on a pan by the road, including many more Red-necked Stints than yesterday, contained a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes to add to the species list were unfortunately flushed by a marauding Peregrine before I could get a good look at them all. The pits around the shelter were very quiet, presumably due to the Peregrine having recently been through, so I instead walked in from the road and again walked the bunds. One pit held a group of 14 Asian Dowitchers, about 30 Nordmann’s Greenshanks and at least 53 Terek Sandpipers, along with good numbers of Broad-billed Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints, and sitting down, the birds would eventually work their way toward me.
Asian Dowitchers
After an hour, and with the heat starting to build, I was just beginning to
have thoughts of giving up when suddenly a small wader flew in and started
frantically feeding in a very distinctive sweeping action, much different to
the stints it was among, and despite initially not seeing the bill tip, it was
clearly a Spoon-billed Sandpiper! I watched the bird for the next five minutes
as the birds slowly edged closer and potentially within camera range, and just
as I was about to lift the camera for some record shots, a Brahminy Kite flew
low over and flushed the lot!
Happy with finally finding my target,
we headed west toward Kaeng Krachan and our accommodation for the night at the
Baan Maka Nature Lodge. While checking in, Blue Whistling Thrush, Small
Minivet, Black-naped Oriole and several Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes were
around the car park along with some showy Oriental Pied Hornbills.
A walk around the nature trail here in the afternoon heat added Lineated Barbet, Thick-billed Green Pigeon and a couple of Large Woodshrikes, and a ridiculously tame Malaysian Pied Fantail which was hopping around my feet, obviously aware of my ability to attract all manner of biting insects for a potential feast!
As dusk fell, we walked up
to the bar where Ian, the resident birder of Baan Maka, pointed out a Blue
and White Flycatcher, a rare visitor here, along with a couple of Crested
Treeswifts overhead and Large-tailed Nightjar hawking. After dark, we tried
spotlighting around the grounds, but found nothing other than a couple of
calling Collared Scops Owls which frustratingly couldn’t be pinned down in the
torch.
February 3
After a quick breakfast, we headed into Kaeng Krachan National Park a few miles away. Much of the easiest birding here is along a 30km long road which, technically, unless you have a 4wd car, ends at the middle campsite about halfway along it, and there are frustratingly very few trails off it. Still, there’s plenty to see just stopping regularly along the road, with a Red-bearded Bee-eater, Racket-tailed Treepie, Lineated and Blue-eared Barbets, Hill Myna, Rosy Minivet, Blue-winged Leafbird, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Eye-browed Thrush, Verditer Flycatcher and many Black-crested and Black-headed Bulbuls in the trees and Vernal Hanging Parrots whizzing overhead. More spectacular however was a Great Hornbill that flew low overhead, the wingbeats audible long after the bird had vanished behind trees.
Although we had seen Dusky Langurs
along the road, they were fairly distant. However, at the Middle Camp, they
showed much closer as did a troop of very noisy White-handed Gibbons.
Having mixed up our second night’s
accommodation booking, we had to cut the visit to Kaeng Krachan short late
morning to check out of Baan Maka. After checking out and while loading the
car, some noisy bulbuls gave away the presence of an Asian Barred Owlet in a
tree nearby, while an Eye-browed Thrush fed behind one of the chalets.
We then took the short drive back to
Baan Maka for our evening meal, dodging the many Red-wattled Lapwings and
Large-tailed Nightjars sat on the road in the dark along the way. As we left
Baan Maka, a Brown Boobook was perched on wires above the track by the entrance
and stayed put, seemingly unbothered, despite me frantically trying to retrieve
my camera off the back seat and having a torch shone at it.
February 4
A much earlier start, getting into the park at 6am, but disappointingly, no mammals were seen along the road, though calling Brown Boobook and Collared Owlet were audible in the darkness. The road was much quieter than yesterday, a Crested Serpent Eagle gave prolonged views perched in a tree and a Rosy Minivet about the best.
The Middle Camp was much busier, with several new species for the trip were seen including Blyth’s Paradise Flycatcher, Sultan Tit, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike and Dark-necked Tailorbird, while Vernal Hanging Parrots gave good views in a low tree.
The Dusky Langurs were again present and showed well, moving between the
trees and Toni had a surprise close encounter with a Gaur a few hundred metres
along the road outside the camp.
Past the Middle Camp, the road is (supposed to be) open only to 4wd vehicles, but a 2wd car with decent ground clearance can still make it up (though having driven it, I’m not sure I would take my own car up there, but a hire car is fair enough!). The road works on a one-way system and movement is controlled and it is only possible to go up the road between 5-8am and again 1-3pm, and down the road between 9-11.30am and 4-5pm, which does require some planning on how to best make use of it. After failing with the sun bear, we headed off up the road to look for a Silver Oriole, a rare visitor to Thailand that had been seen for the last couple of weeks. Shortly after leaving the camp, a tour group looking up into a roadside tree revealed the presence of a White-fronted Scops Owl, a speciality of this area.
The rest of the road after the river crossings steadily got steeper as the road deteriorated but still we persevered, and were rewarded with a White-crowned Hornbill that flew across the road just before the 25km marker. With the road getting worse, we stopped just after 27km, and I decided to walk the extra kilometre (not my best idea given how steep the road was and also how unfit I am) to where the oriole had been seen. Thankfully a group of birders with their guides were watching the bird when I arrived and the Silver Oriole showed well above us in the trees.
Back in the Middle Camp, after the kilometre-long walk up the hill a short while earlier, a short walk was all my legs were up to, and a quick look at the river that runs along the edge of the camp produced a couple of Forest Wagtails.
February 5
Having seen the condition of the road
past the camp the previous day, we decided not to make a return journey the
next morning and instead opted for a more leisurely bit of birding at the Baan
Song Nok Hide. This lovely spot just outside the gate is a feeding site where
the couple put out bananas that attracts a good range of species, which are
confiding and show at close range. Immediately when we arrived, the station was
busy with Streak-eared, Black-headed, Stripe-throated, Sooty-hooded and
Black-crested Bulbuls and were eventually joined by both Black-hooded and
Black-naped Orioles, Siamese Pied Starling, and an Asian Koel, while several Himalayan
Striped Squirrels also entertained.
Having been surprised at how few people there were around Kaeng Krachan, we were caught out by how popular these elephant trips are, given it’s only an hour from the popular tourist resorts of Hua Hin. We were soon questioning our decision to come here when we saw the scrum of pickups loading up tourists and school children for the tours, but thankfully we managed to have a pickup to ourselves. When we arrived at the first group of elephants, moving around the back of some woodland, it was like a scene more familiar on an African Safari as pickups converged on the spot, trying to get the best view for their groups, even though photographically at least, the views were awful.
Having watched these elephants for far too long given the views, we carried on and further down the track were alerted to a small group of Elephants out on a meadow opposite a viewing tower and although fairly distant, they were at least out in the open!
February 6
We spent the night at a resort near
the coast at Sam Roi Yot, where just north of here are a large expanse of rice
fields, absolutely teeming with waterbirds. One large pool had hundreds, if not
thousands of Garganey, along with many Lesser Whistling Ducks, Cotton Pygmy
Geese, Grey-headed Swamphens, a few Pheasant-tailed Jacanas and a Pied
Kingfisher, while a small pool by the road held a Long-toed Stint, Wood
Sandpiper and an Eastern Yellow Wagtail, the latter located by its distinctive
call. Being a large wetland, herons and egrets were abundant, including many
Medium Egrets and several Purple Herons.
The surrounding scrub held Plain Prinia, Stejneger’s Stonechat, Common Iora, Chestnut Munia and a Brown Shrike, while a White-browed Reed Warbler skulked in the reeds along the water’s edge.
A troop of Stump-tailed Macaques were raiding bins as we left a quick lunch stop at Pak Nam Pran, and becoming aggressive at anyone who they thought might want to intervene,=.
February 7
With Toni flying to Australia early,
I dropped her off at the airport and made my way to Khao Yai National Park,
just over two hours away. Although it wasn’t going to be as early as I would
have liked to get there to walk some trails, it should have been quite early,
well until a young Thai lad driving a big pickup ignored the rules of the
roundabout just ten minutes short of the park, and didn’t give way to the car,
i.e. me, coming from his right and although I slammed on my brakes and nearly
stopped in time, I went into the side of him. Thankfully, the damage to the
hire car was minimal, mostly a scraped bumper and the registration plate ending
up several metres down the road but this then resulted in me having to spend
the next hour and a half waiting for his insurance company to turn up and by
the time everything was in order and I got to the park it was 10.20am and
already very warm.
With now limited time in my day’s
birding, as I had to be back in Bangkok to return the car that evening, I made
my way to the Pha Kluay Mai Campsite, which is a recommended hotspot. Being
very warm, it was very quiet around the campsite, though a Forest Wagtail
feeding among leaf litter was a surprise.
A trail runs from here along the river and was fairly productive way to spend a couple of hours with 2 Abbott’s Babblers, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Ashy Minivet, Sulphur-breasted Warbler, Blue-eared Barbet, Asian Fairy-Bluebird and Puff-throated Bulbul.
As I got back onto the campground, 2 Great Hornbills flew over, thankfully their wingbeats marked their imminent arrival and gave me time to get the camera ready!
The final hour of my time was spent on the trail from the visitor centre in the late afternoon where other than a confiding Taiga Flycatcher and some Pig-tailed Macaques, the noisy tourists made it a fruitless walk.
As I left the park, a Rufous-winged Buzzard hunted along the woodland edge of a large meadow signalling the end of a very good week (car crashes not withstanding!).
In all, I saw 182 species of bird (of which 48 were new) and 12 species of mammal. It was disappointing not to be able to find any Broadbills or see any partridges and pheasants or get photos of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, but maybe next time, preferably when my nerves have recovered from the driving…
